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Top 2016 Blogs Reflect Hope in Disaster Giving

December 27, 2016
• By
Robert G. Ottenhoff

All of us here at the Center for Disaster Philanthropy want to thank you for your encouragement, support, and inspiration this year. It has been an honor to serve you and we look forward to another year of partnership and accomplishment.

During the holiday season, it can be hard to think about disasters. But then, to be honest, we’d rather not think about disasters any time—and so we usually don’t. Then one hits our community or wreaks stunning death and destruction somewhere around the world.

On December 31, 2015, holiday decorations seem out of place on a flooded street in Arnold, MO.

You might be surprised to learn that 2016 could set a record for the number of billion-dollar natural disasters in the United States. Part of your disbelief might be due to the fact that we again had below-average hurricane activity in both the Atlantic and Pacific basins. So when Hurricane Matthew became the first category 5 hurricane since 2007, you paid special notice to this blog on how to help: Hurricane Matthew: When, How, and Where to Give.

A more common pattern for natural disasters in 2016 was devastating flooding throughout the Midwest and South. Floods cause extensive damage—to people and property—that lasts for years. That may be why so many of you responded to our blog on Louisiana: Floods Do Not Flatter.

West Virginia was another state hit hard this year by those now all-too-common “thousand year floods.” President and CEO of Philanthropy West Virginia, Paul Daugherty provided us a poignant report on his home state and the tough road that lies ahead in: Don’t Forget West Virginia.

Finally, our biggest take-away from 2016, is the sense that there is a growing movement among donors to learn more about effective, strategic disaster philanthropy. There’s an increased recognition of the need to be better prepared, which was reflected in the popularity of these three blogs in particular.